Meticulous and precise, Hardtop is a top sniper among the Decepticon ranks. His acute sight and hearing, combined with incredible patience, makes him not only an excellent hit man, but also perfect for keeping tabs on the treacherous Starscream for his commander Megatron. In almost every way, he's the exact opposite of his brother Swindle.

Hardtop's orderly personality also manifests itself in his hobby: comic books. He's got a vast, pristine collection of pulp entertainment from numerous worlds and civilizations, a collection easily within the realm of "excessive" and "obsessive". When he's not got an Autobot in his sights, he's out hunting for the latest Galactic Guardians issue or carefully thumbing through his stash.

Hardtop transforms into a dune buggy of indeterminate (and probably made-up) model. He features a rear-mounted gun, which becomes a hand-held weapon for his robot mode. In either mode, plugging a Cyber Planet Key into the butt of the rifle flips out an extended barrel for a "sniper" mode. He came with a silver-bordered Earth-style Cyber Planet Key with the Cyber Key code "s4mm" stamped on the back.

Hardtop is unique to the Cybertron line, one of several toys that were not released under Galaxy Force.

Wal-Mart stores carried exclusive versions of the original Leader-class Cybertron toys late in the line's run. The toys themselves were unchanged, but came with a free Scout-class toy attached to a bubble on the top of the box. An un-altered version of Hardtop came with the "Bonus Buy" version of Megatron.